NEW DELHI, Sept. 17 -- Indian sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other larger vehicles have raced ahead of smaller passenger cars in the export market in the first five months of this fiscal year, paving the way for them to dominate annual overseas sales for the first time in FY27, according to two industry executives and analysts.

Higher exports of such utility vehicles, driven by India's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, have helped the category maintain a lead over passenger cars for the past 10 months.

Exports of SUVs, multipurpose vehicles (MPVs) and multi-utility vehicles (MUVs), classified together as utility vehicles, jumped 23% to 203,582 units in the April-to-August period from a year earlier, accounting for 56% of to...